Discover how financial controllers elevate procurement. Align strategy, strengthen controls, and unlock significant organizational value.
The procurement function is a critical area of organizations where spend is a top priority. The Controllership function is involved in spend management. It is logical that the Controller should take a role in working with the procurement function.
The procurement function may report to various areas within an organization including the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and the Chief Financial (CFO) or Accounting Officer (CAO). Regardless of the reporting line of the function, the accounting and controllership functions must have an integral understanding of all processes involved within procurement.
This understanding will assist the controller and accounting area in properly optimizing and controlling costs associated with the process.
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
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